Test scores

2:11 pm

Wed September 14, 2011

Washington students tops on SAT

Washington students seem to be putting their No. 2s to good use when it comes to the SAT test.

Krug6Flickr

Washington students appear to be acing one test, the SAT test.

Average scores were the highest in the nation among states where more than 50 percent of eligible students take the college-entrance exam.

This is the ninth straight year Washington students have done this well on the SAT. Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn says it’s great news that Washington still ranks number one given that 4,000 more students took the test in 2011.

"What’s even better news is we’ve had major increases in the number of African Americans, Hispanics and Asians taking the SAT and usually when more kids take the test the scores go down. That didn't happen in Washington," he said.

Washington students' average combined score in reading, math and writing on the SAT was 520. According to the figures released by the College Board, New Hampshire had the second highest average score of 519.6, followed by Massachusetts (516), Oregon (513), Vermont (512.6) and Connecticut (511.6).

Dorn gives part of the credit to the state’s efforts to get more kids thinking about education beyond high school.

He says the state’s College Bound Scholarship Program may be a factor as well. (The name of this program has been updated since the original post.) It gives low income 8th graders who sign up a guarantee that their college will be paid for if they keep their grades up and stay out of legal trouble.